Officials have started to lash out at President Donald Trump’s declaration that Haiti and African countries are “shitholes” – with the UN’s human rights agency saying it is nothing more than racism.
Mr Trump apparently asked a bi-partisan meeting of US lawmakers “why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” during a meeting about immigration on Thursday.
The White House has not denied the comments, which have drawn ire from around the world. UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland: There is no other word one can use but ‘racist’. You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as ‘shitholes’, whose entire populations, who are not white, are therefore not welcome.”
African Union spokesman Ebba Kalondo also spoke angrily against the comments, saying “Given the historical reality of how many Africans arrived in the United States as slaves, this statement flies in the face of all accepted behavior and practice. This is particularly surprising as the United States of America remains a global example of how migration gave birth to a nation built on strong values of diversity and opportunity.”
Meanwhile, Jessie Duarte, deputy secretary general of South Africa’s ruling ANC, slammed Trump at a press conference in the Eastern Cape – saying her country would not stoop to his level. She told reporters: “Ours is not a shithole country, neither is Haiti or any other country in distress. It’s not as if the United States doesn’t have problems. There is unemployment in the U.S., there are people who don’t have healthcare services…. We would not deign to make comments as derogatory as that about any country that has any kind of socioeconomic or other difficulties.”
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